#17 Skye

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Hi, podcast, friends.

As regular listeners know, I try to run a family-friendly-ish podcast.

But because it's integral to the plot, in this episode of Heavyweight, we dropped the F-bomb an unprecedented nine times.

If they were giving out pea bodies for swearing, maybe I'd get one.

Also, as long as I'm giving advisories, I also pronounce the word garage garage as garage.

I encourage you to listen anyway.

Hello?

Did you get a message from me a couple months ago?

A phone message.

It was on your birthday.

I was wishing you a happy birthday.

It's possible.

I didn't hear anything back, so I was concerned.

When someone leaves you a message, on your birthday, you have no obligation to return that message.

Oh, good.

But that said,

it would have been nice to get.

I'm not saying a thank-you card, but you know, if I was under no obligation, why are you now giving me suggestions as to how I should have responded?

Some things in life aren't obligatory, but we just do them.

You know what I mean?

Absolutely, like picking up the phone when I just saw that you called me.

Exactly.

Like,

hey, wait a minute.

From Gimlet Media, I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and this is Heavyweight.

Today's episode, Skye.

Skye and her son Clark have a ritual.

Every night after his teeth are brushed and he's all tucked in, right before Clark goes to sleep,

Skye sits down on the edge of his bed

and they talk.

What was your favorite part of that that movie?

Probably like the end was a good ending.

Also, the helicopter scene was good.

Clark's 11.

So, naturally, there's a lot of discussion about comic books and movies.

I don't think it was a good movie.

You know, the original Jumaji was not funny.

But there's something about the stillness of nighttime that also frees Clark up to speak in a way that he doesn't normally.

Not only does he tell Skye about what he's watching and reading, he tells her about his feelings.

He shares stories about what's going on at school.

And Skye shares stories too, stories from her childhood.

Some stories she tells just to entertain Clark, but other stories she tells to impart a lesson.

There's one story in particular she's told Clark over and over again throughout the years.

And lately, it's been coming up a lot.

Recently, Skye told me the story.

So the story, in a way, the story starts when I moved.

When she was 11 years old, Skye was best friends with a group of four girls.

One of the girls.

They wore a spree sweatshirts and watched Love Boat on the weekends.

They were the popular girls.

That was sort of the vibe of that group was like, we're exclusive and we're kind of the shit.

Yeah.

You know how like in high school they have, you know, most beautiful and most popular and all of those.

We decided to make our own book of, you know, awarding people people various prizes.

We gave me best eyes.

And I remember sort of having this pride in that.

They spent all of fifth grade together.

Then summer came.

And with it, long days filled with lazy bike rides and trips to the candy shop.

But early one summer morning, Skye woke up to find her yard had been teepeed.

covered in toilet paper.

And there was more.

Someone had written, fuck you on our garage door

and

we had a double garage and so fuck was on one and you was on the other and they were written in

large white letters on our brown garage

sky's mom had seen the vandals make their getaway the words fuck you had been written by none other than Skye's four best friends.

And they had been written in paint.

I wish they had done it with something that had come off because I do remember this feeling of like being driven home day after day and seeing those words on the garage door.

Teeping someone's house is one thing.

It's sort of a common prank.

But

the fact that they wrote, fuck you, that felt to me like it really came from anger.

And they had to have brought the paint.

You know, there had to have been some thought put into this.

Why had they done it?

What were they angry about?

Skye had no idea.

Did you ever see those girls again?

Well, I saw them again for sure.

We all funneled into this junior high school that fall, and I think that I just avoided them.

I never ever said a word to any of the four girls ever again.

I

pretended it never happened.

And when Skye tells Clark this story, here's where she delivers the moral.

Awful things do happen, but in the end, everything turns out fine.

Skye grew up, got married, has a job she likes and a family she loves.

Her story, she tells him, has a happy ending.

In the past, when he's heard this story, Clark's taken his mom's lesson at face value.

But Clark is now the same age Skye was when her friends turned on her.

He's starting to see his own classmates leave old friends behind for the more popular crowd.

For the first time, he's able to imagine what it would be like if his own small group of friends suddenly cast him out, stopped coming over to his house to play video games, stopped speaking to him altogether.

So Skye's moral, that everyone lives happily ever after, is starting to feel untrue.

And so, Clark has a question for his mother.

Why didn't she ever confront her friends about what they did?

Why not then?

But also, he asks Skye, why not now?

Like, did they do it for themselves or because of you?

Or was it because of like something you did or something?

Do you think they might?

Clark brings up Skye's story during their bedtime ritual, asking for details, weighing the injustice.

Fantasizing about Skye, looking up her old friends, and confronting them with some questions.

I think you can't be like the person that you normally are where you're like timid little mommy.

Funny to me that you think of me as timid mommy.

That's very interesting.

Yeah, well, I have like a lot of occasions to prove that.

Like, your New Year's resolution was to say no

more often.

That was your resolution, because you were too timid to say no to people before that.

Well, I like to think that it's less about me being timid and more about me being a can-to kind of person.

There it is right there!

At school functions, Clark watches his mom try to accommodate the other parents and get steamrolled in the process.

In restaurants, he sees his mom settle for the wrong meal rather than bother the waiter.

For once, he wants Sky to stop worrying about everyone else's feelings.

He wants her to focus on herself.

I would really love to know, like,

why it's important to you.

It's basically for me more of like my mom avenging those people.

I just wanted you to kind of like get your avenge.

My revenge?

Avenge yourself.

Sorry, I'm using the wrong word.

You gotta be like, you did this.

And do you remember why it happened?

And say sorry to me.

He said at the end, Mom, you've got to figure this out.

You've got to go for it.

You have to have a chance to find out why this happened.

It's not just Clark who feels this way.

There's someone else who also wonders why this happened and has always wished Skye had had the chance to ask.

Hello?

Is this Rachel?

Yes, it is.

This is Sky's mom, Rachel, the only eyewitness to what happened that night.

And the person talking to her while chewing a hunk of Munster cheese and halabread, because his boss Alex thinks taking lunch breaks is more of a biz ops thing, is me.

I got out of my chair and I stood at the window and pulled back the drape,

and

I see their bikes sort of going off into the night.

The night the girl showed up, around two or three in the morning, Rachel was reading in an armchair by the window.

She's always up in the middle of the night.

It's a habit that began in childhood.

She tells me that her own mom, Skye's grandmother, suffered from schizophrenia.

She was unpredictable.

And the middle of the night was the only time the house was ever quiet and safe.

It was during those calm nights, alone, that Rachel began writing poetry.

And

here I am all these years later and I'm still still doing it.

There's something holy about the middle of the night.

Nobody's hassling you and

you can really hear yourself somehow.

But on the night the vandals struck, she could also hear four 11-year-old girls making their getaway.

When the sun came up, Rachel saw the fuck you on the garage, and immediately she phoned up one of the girls and spoke with both her and her mom.

While neither denied what had happened, nothing much came of the conversation.

And after that, Skye begged Rachel not to make any more phone calls.

The idea of confronting anyone just upset Skye more.

So Rachel stopped calling, and after a few days, things seemed to go back to normal.

We felt it was

over,

and

for her it really wasn't.

It really took her being, I think, grown up for her to start saying to me, I think about this all the time.

And it was shocking to me.

I had not understood that and I felt dopey that I hadn't understood that

because I thought I was pretty well attuned to her and her feelings.

It broke my heart.

She always understood

how to fit in with people, completely unlike her parents.

My husband, you know, was born in Finland and was a mathematician and had his PhD when he was 19 and I was this strange high school dropout poet.

I mean we were really odd and eccentric birds and here was this kid who was just

exquisitely normal.

And to us, she's always been a wonder.

You know, like, who is this very social being?

This is a kid whose first word was hi,

and who, when she was small,

literally sat on the front step all day and said hi to every person who passed on the sidewalk.

And

we

loved her for that.

And

what happened with the girls, this had the effect of making her more,

you know, pulling in her wings.

And this is the person Clark sees today, someone who keeps her wings tucked in so tight for fear of them getting in anyone's way that she's forgotten how to open them.

Rachel knows that Clark has recently begun urging his mom to be less timid, and she approves.

There's something authoritative about a child.

They haven't had

they're not all hammered by doubts and worries about what they're saying.

They're like, but why didn't you do this?

Rachel had asked me to call at the end of her work night.

It's now 7.30 a.m., close to her bedtime.

So we say her goodbyes.

But just before putting down the phone, she offers a final benediction.

I thought it was so beautiful the way he wanted her to figure this out, because

she'll hear that from him in a way that she probably could never hear that from me.

It has more of a chance to wake her up.

And with that, Rachel heads off to bed, and I turn back to Skye, who, with a little help from Clark, is still trying to wake up.

He does have this sense of, but that's an unfinished thing.

Yeah, like the good that this good ending hasn't fully happened yet.

Yeah.

Yeah, the good ending hasn't happened.

Now it's sort of turning into a different story, which is that it's kind of never too late to summon courage and do something that

scares you.

I guess

in a way, I want to live up to his

to who I think he'd he'd like me to be, you know?

I think, like,

I

need to show him that I can

stand up for myself.

35 years later, and Sky's finally decided she's ready.

She just needs help reaching the girls and not backing down when she does.

So you want to do this?

I think that I want to do this.

Yes, I want to do this.

You know, now I'll be able to say, I did what I could.

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In today's super competitive business environment, the edge goes to those who push harder, move faster, and level up every tool in their arsenal.

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They're now the best network, according to the experts at an OOCLA Speed Test, and they're using that network to launch Supermobile, the first and only business plan to combine intelligent performance, built-in security, and seamless satellite coverage.

With Supermobile, your performance, security, and coverage are supercharged.

With a network that adapts in real time, your business stays operating at peak capacity even in times of high demand.

With built-in security on the first nationwide 5G advanced network, you keep private data private for you, your team, your clients.

And with seamless coverage from the world's largest satellite-to-mobile constellation, your whole team can text and stay updated even when they're off the grid.

That's your business, supercharged.

Learn more at supermobile.com.

Seamless coverage with compatible devices in most outdoor areas in the U.S.

where you can see the sky.

Best network based on analysis by OOCLA of Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 2025.

This message is a paid partnership with AppleCard.

I was just at a theme park in Florida with my almost four-year-old.

Between enjoying the sunshine and the rides, the last thing I wanted to worry about was my wallet.

That's why AppleCard with Apple Pay saved my vacation.

One tap, a check-in, and I was off to see the attractions.

Every purchase from hot dogs, and oh, we had hot dogs, to t-shirts earned me daily cash.

Unlike waiting in line for a ride, there's no waiting until the end of the month for rewards.

And my daily cash is automatically deposited into the savings account I opened through Apple Card, where it earns interest.

With Apple Pay's secure technology built right into my iPhone and Apple Watch, I pay to shops, restaurants, and attractions without ever digging from my wallet.

The best part?

No fees, no hassles.

I spent less time managing my money and more time doing nothing short of epic.

Apply for AppleCard in the wallet app on your iPhone.

Subject to credit approval.

Savings available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility.

Variable APRs for AppleCard range from 18.24% to 28.49% based on credit worthiness.

Rates as of July 1st, 2025.

Savings on Apple Card by Goldman Sancts Bank, USA, Salt Lake City Branch.

Member FDIC.

Terms and more at Applecard.com.

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Skye and I get to work reaching out to the four girls, Sam, Nikki, Randy, and Tessa.

We begin with Sam because Skye already has her contact info.

They'd run into each other at their 10-year high school reunion.

Skye, Sam had said, it's me.

It would have been the perfect opportunity to ask about the fuck you on the garage door, but Skye just couldn't bring herself to mention it.

So instead, they made awkward small talk.

And then she friended me on Facebook, which

practically made me laugh, but I.

This sounds ridiculous, but I didn't want to be rude.

And so I accepted her friendship.

I helped Skye write a Facebook message to Sam saying she has some questions about the end of their friendship.

But with no response, Skye follows up again and again.

Eventually, Sam writes back.

We just naturally grew apart as life events progressed, she says.

She concludes by saying that Skye's attempts to contact her are making her feel, quote, overwhelmed and stressed.

And that makes Skye feel bad.

Second is Nikki, who says that, even though Skye's mom clearly remembers her being there that day, she absolutely wasn't.

In fact, she says, she and Skye weren't even that close.

Third comes Randy.

Randy's hard to get a hold of, so when we get no answer on her house phone, we try all the numbers we can find.

We leave her repeated messages, but it seems like she's not even getting them.

But as it turns out, she's gotten all of them.

Because she sends Skye an email to say that she's not happy about it.

In fact, she's creeped out.

Skye was at the grocery store when she received the email.

I was in line and

I completely was out of my body as I was reading it.

I so forgot where I was that someone had to say, are you in line?

And I was like, no, I'm not.

And I had to like push my cart away from the checkout stand because I could not focus.

Skye went into damage control mode, writing back to Randy to say how deeply sorry she was I asked her to read me what she'd sent Randy I'm so grateful that you wrote me back it makes me cringe to think about how semi-creepy and weird it must have seemed to get those messages ugh I'm kicking myself for letting that happen I'm still hoping to talk to you privately and just explain myself would that be okay

like you know is there a kind of um

like do you feel like your default default is to sort of apologize for having reached out?

Um,

yeah, I

do, I do, that has occurred to me.

Later, Skye shares the email with Clark, and it seems like it's occurred to him as well.

I think you were over-apologetic.

If you set yourself as the kind of character who is like, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have done that, that automatically makes her basically like gives her power.

Yeah, it puts her in a better spot than you're in.

And that's bad.

At Sky's insistence, Randy finally agrees to a phone call.

But in the end, all she tells Skye is that she doesn't remember that night, doesn't remember any toilet paper or garage door.

She doesn't remember anything at all.

Of the four friends, only one remains, Tessa.

The girl Sky's mom phoned directly after the incident.

Over the next couple weeks, I speak with Tessa several times.

She can't decide if she wants to talk with Skye.

For one thing, she says, it was so long ago that she doesn't remember much.

To which I rejoin that she's all we've got.

For another, she adds, Getting contacted like this through a third-party interlocutionary international podcasting host is pretty weird, to which I admit that it is slightly unconventional.

Finally, Tessa says she doesn't want to inadvertently drag the other girls' names through the dirt for something they did as kids, to which I say, well, let's change those names and draw some pseudonyms through the dirt.

And once I agree to change the names of the four girls, Tessa, not her real name, agrees to sit down with Skye.

still her real name, so she can finally have a conversation about the night in question.

Both Skye and Tessa live in California, pretty close to where they grew up.

I figure my presence at their meeting could be calming.

Helpful, even.

All Skye has to do is invite me out there to join her.

I like California.

I know, I love it.

But because of her cursed timidity, Skye just doesn't have the lima beans to ask.

So, I continue to offer her prompts.

I haven't been there in some time.

Well, it's a lovely state.

After several minutes of this elaborate dance, I get to the point.

For both our sakes.

So

do you think that

you think I should come?

That would be amazing.

And so, it's off to California.

for some long overdue Q ⁇ A.

Hi.

Good.

How are you guys?

Hi, Clark.

Nice to meet you.

Skye picks me up at the hotel.

Clark's along too, to make sure his mom doesn't lose her nerve.

Clark, you can continue to navigate for me.

Clark sits in the passenger seat, leafing through a comic book.

All right, let me, I'm just going to throw this in here if that's okay.

Yeah, do it.

And then

I toss my bag into the back of the hatchback, and we head off to meet Tessa.

It felt great to be in San Francisco.

It's just like the mamas and the papas saying if one is going to San Francisco, one should wear flowers in one's hair.

As we speed down the highway, I close my eyes, lean back, and would that I had hair, enjoy the wind blowing through it.

Wait, is the trunk open?

Oh, wow.

It seems that in my excitement to hit the streets of San Fran, I'd left the hatchback door open, which, it turns out, is the source of the San Franciscan breeze.

She whiz.

I'm sorry about that.

God.

Sky finds a place on the shoulder of the highway to pull over.

No, man.

And shuts the trunk door.

Oh, God.

And with that, we were back on our way.

That's why they call me Mr.

Excitement.

Actually, no one calls me Mr.

Excitement.

San Francisco's pretty.

We're not in San Francisco, you know that, right?

as we drive to meet Tessa I ask Skye how she's doing

I feel

I feel nervous

which is a word that

I am not

when when have you used the word nervousided Clark

like before like baseball games and like stuff like that.

I mean, I kind of feel nervous.

Nervousighted is a portmanteau word, like the way, say, romance, a word denoting an incestuous relationship between brothers is, or chillax, the act of chilling out with a bar of family-sized ex-lax.

How do you feel about meeting...

Do you want to meet her?

Or resist temptations to punch her over what she did.

Clark is 11 years old.

In the comic books he reads, that's how problems are solved, with punches, kung fu chops.

Writing the scales is a simpler business.

It's one thing to hear stories about his mom being stepped on.

It's another to be in the same room with one of the people who did the stepping.

Skye tries to tamp down his need for revenge.

Well, as we were talking about last night,

before you went to sleep.

You want forgiveness.

Forgiveness, forgiveness.

We need to find the forgiveness.

I wanted a quiet place for Skye and Tessa to talk, and it turned out that on the weekends, the local university had an unoccupied studio.

I think we're basically here.

We pull into the empty campus parking lot.

Clark, you want to look and make sure I'm within the lines?

Yeah, your was a little lit.

Okay.

Let's get set up.

So, this is where Clark and I

will sit.

The studio is only big enough for Skye and Tessa, so Clark and I sit in the control booth where we'll be able to eavesdrop on the conversation.

There's a mic, so should the need arise, Clark can offer guidance that only Skye can hear through her headphones.

Hi, Mom.

Hi, Clark.

Okay, so you turn it on.

It's good to hear your voice.

Can you hear me, Skye?

Sandy, the studio technician, helps us get set up and takes a level on Skye's voice by asking her an easy, neutral question.

Tell me,

how's the ride in today?

How was the ride in?

You don't have to shout into it.

It was easy, except for when we left the hatchback open on the freeway.

Laugh it up, Sandy, the studio technician.

Laugh it up.

Tessa is running late, so Skye sits waiting in the studio by herself.

Finally.

Wait, she's here?

Ah,

okay.

Okay.

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T-Mobile knows all about that.

They're now the best network, according to the experts at OOCLA Speed Test, and they're using that network to launch Supermobile, the first and only business plan to combine intelligent performance, built-in security, and seamless satellite coverage.

With Supermobile, your performance, security, and coverage are supercharged.

With a network that adapts in real time, your business stays operating at peak capacity even in times of high demand.

With built-in security on the first nationwide 5G advanced network, you keep private data private for you, your team, your clients.

And with seamless coverage from the world's largest satellite to mobile constellation, your whole team can text and stay updated even when they're off the grid.

That's your business, Supercharged.

Learn more at Supermobile.com.

Seamless coverage with compatible devices in most outdoor areas in the US where you can see the sky.

Best network based on analysis by OOCLA of Speed Test Intelligence Data 1H 2025.

So, what do this animal

and this animal

and this animal

have in common?

They all live on an organic valley farm.

Organic Valley dairy comes from small organic family farms that protect the land and the plants and animals that live on it from toxic pesticides, which leads to a thriving ecosystem and delicious, nutritious milk and cheese.

Learn more at OV.coop and taste the difference.

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Hey, I'm Jonathan.

Glad you made it.

Nice to meet you, too.

Tessa's stylish, and like Skye, looks younger than her years.

You can still see a trace of the popular girl.

I show her into the studio where Skye's been waiting.

The two haven't seen each other since they were children.

Who do you do you keep in

Not in close touch with anyone.

As they settle in, the mood is formal, a little stilted.

Since the room is only about the size of a small elevator, their knees practically touch.

You guys can start now.

Okay, thanks, Clark.

Clark says we can start now.

Okay.

So

I'm just going to go backtrack a little bit.

Yeah.

So my memory is that

we were all in sort of a tight-knit group.

Is it too early for me to ask, like,

why didn't she do it?

Yes.

It can be a positive

thing for both of us.

But then had also written, fuck you, on the garage door.

And that then

from that point on, we never spoke again.

And

it's something that has always stuck with me because I don't know why it happened.

And so

I guess I'd love to know what your memories are.

Clark's got this look on his face.

Love to know what your memories are?

From his perspective, his mom's doing what she always does.

That is, exactly what he told her not to.

She's being overly sensitive to Tessa's feelings.

But even after 35 years of waiting to ask the question, Skye just can't help being Skye.

Tessa takes a sip of water.

Sorry, I'm just.

My throat is dry.

Yeah, no problem.

Skye smiles warmly and gives Tessa a moment to collect herself.

Take your time.

So I

have

a vague recollection.

It's really vague.

What really stands out is that we were just going teeping.

Like, we went tee-ping a lot, you know, not just on that night.

And we literally just stumbled upon your home.

Interesting.

And that's what I remember.

Clark furrows his brow.

He wants his mother to push harder, be more aggressive.

Mom,

ask why you weren't invited to go toilet papering with them.

That's a really good question.

We watch a sky waits patiently for Tessa to finish speaking.

He wanted me to ask you

why I didn't come with you that night, TPing.

Why weren't you invited?

Why didn't I come?

Why I wasn't invited.

In my mind, we had drifted apart by then.

Inside the control room, Clark shakes his head.

I think there's more to the story.

You do?

Yeah.

What makes you think that?

I don't know.

He slumps back in his seat and crosses his arms.

He seems frustrated.

I remember your mom calling my mom.

And for my mom, it wasn't a big deal either.

My mom, first of all, didn't even know what TPing was.

I had to explain it to her.

Oh, okay.

I did not realize until maybe now

that it was

more of a big deal for you.

Yeah.

And I feel like you're being very, very honest, and I really, really appreciate that.

When Tessa and I last spoke, she mentioned how odd this whole undertaking seemed to her.

A woman she hadn't heard from in 35 years wanted to talk to her about a random night from their childhood.

Oh, and she also wanted to bring along her 11-year-old son and his 48-year-old sidekick, both of whom would be communicating with Skye through a secret microphone.

Mommy, can you hear me?

Let's wait so she can talk to you.

Wait, wait, wait.

Inside the control room, I watch Sky perform a delicate balancing act.

She's aware that Clark is watching, so she's trying not to be too timid.

But she also wants to set a good example for how to behave.

And through all that, she can't help seeing it from Tessa's perspective, how weird and uncomfortable this must be for her.

Skye wants to help Tessa feel safe.

And so she treads lightly.

I mean, I think being the parent now of a child, I understand how quickly things can get confused.

And it really was the words that that's what seemed to communicate to me, I've done something terrible.

Like

I must have...

I must be responsible for this in some way, you know?

And so I wondered, did I do something?

can see that Tessa is weighing her response.

She doesn't quite know what to say.

But with Skye being so gracious and open, it's like she feels the least she can do is try to meet her halfway.

And so tentatively, she offers a thought.

Maybe you were a little different than them.

In what way?

Again, Tessa searches for the right words, all the while never saying us or we, but always they.

They were like they were a little mischievous.

You know,

they were a little rebellious

and

wanting to do something bad.

And I was.

And maybe you weren't.

Maybe you didn't want to go along with what they were doing.

Well, you know what's interesting about that is

the whole TPing thing, I remember that being a thing,

but I remember, I actually remember not wanting to do that.

Would you say that

maybe I was more like a goody two-shoes

type?

Compared to them, yeah.

You know?

According to Tessa, if Skye had stayed friends with those girls, it would have meant a summer of drinking alcohol and pulling off semi-illegal pranks after dark.

All things Skye wouldn't have wanted.

Even back then, she didn't want to upset anyone.

To her friends, that made her seem like a goody two-shoes.

And to a goody two-shoes who thinks they're better than you, what could be more of a fuck you than a literal fuck you?

The words large and clear, emblazoned across her family's garage door.

I turn to Clark to see what he makes of all this.

Is there something that you feel like we're just kind of missing or we're not getting at?

Clark stares straight ahead, watching his mom.

I can see he's thinking something through.

He makes a move towards the mic, but then shies away.

He's antsy, rising from his seat, settling back.

Eventually, I make a suggestion.

Do you just want to go in there?

Yeah, totally.

Clark gets up, leaves the control room, and makes his way to the studio to talk to his mom in person.

Watching him, I have no idea what he's up to.

Oh, Clark is here.

Oh,

Clark enters the room.

Was that?

But it's not his mom he's addressing.

It's Tessa.

I take a deep breath as Clark begins to speak.

Did you feel in any way like dragged into it?

Like to do, like to toilet paper people's houses?

Um

I don't know if I would say dragged, but I would say definitely I was a follower.

I'm not exactly surprised by Clark's question.

It's the same one he's been asking since the beginning.

Essentially, why did you do this to my mother?

But I am surprised by the way he's asking it.

Not with anger, but with sympathy.

For the first time, Clark's trying to see it all from Tessa's perspective.

He's following his mom's example.

Sometimes you're with friends because those are the ones you have.

So you'll stick with your friends even though you see things that you don't like in them.

You know, you just don't want to be alone.

Okay.

Yeah, thanks.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thanks, Claire.

And because Tessa didn't want to be alone, she continued to hang out with the girls for several more years before eventually finding a new group of friends.

Tessa turns to Skye.

Honey, you freaking dodged a bullet.

That's what you did.

Not being with those girls, I have to say.

Sky tells Tessa that there's still one thing she's been wondering about.

Why did Tessa agree to talk with her at all?

It would have been easy to say no.

Everyone else did.

Why I said yes?

Yeah.

Truthfully, the call was so out of the blue.

Of course.

You know, at the beginning, I said, yeah, sure, you know, like,

and then I talked to my daughter and she was like, no, like, don't do that.

How old is your daughter?

My daughter is almost 13.

Okay.

Yeah.

What was she worried about?

She kind of said, like, what's in it for you?

Mm-hmm.

You know, she was kind of worried that like I would come out as a bad person or something.

How is she feeling right now that you're here?

She's mad.

She is.

Yeah, she's mad.

But, you know, I told her, like, not everything we do in life is for us.

It's for other people as well.

So she'll be fine.

Whereas Sky set out to show her son that she has the courage to stand up for her own needs, Tessa wants to show her daughter that she has the courage to stand up for someone else's.

I'm sorry that I didn't.

The thought of you thinking for 35 years that you had done something wrong

is like, ugh.

I really don't think that you did anything.

I really don't.

I'm sorry that you felt like that, you know.

I wish that

you hadn't.

I'm so glad I'm hearing it now.

I'm glad too.

So I'm really glad.

And it's really good to see you.

And you literally look exactly the same.

Maybe your hair is a little shorter, right?

And blonder.

Can you turn the mic on?

Go ahead.

Dramatic hug.

What's that?

Dramatic hug.

Oh, you want a dramatic hug?

That's close.

I think we have to have the dramatic hug.

Because the room's so small, when they stand, they're already almost touching.

They look at each other for a brief moment, and then

Skye opens her wings.

Oh,

it's good to see you.

So good to see you.

After the meeting with Tessa, Clark didn't have much to say.

But at night, back in his room, in that space where he feels free to open up, Clark's eager to talk about Tessa.

Honestly, I didn't know that person,

so I thought they might, like, still be the bully, still bullying you.

And I didn't want you to feel like scared or anything in that situation, so I was kind of anxious.

But then I met Tessa and she was like super nice.

She was straightforward.

And

I feel like you like

you weren't timid, mommy.

You were brave, mommy.

Tonight, there's no talk of avenging.

Through his mom's example, Clark's learning that that one can be kind without being timid.

The kindness can carry its own strength.

So thank you.

You're welcome.

There's a lot more coming for Clark.

Moments when he'll have to make difficult decisions.

Some of them he'll talk about with Skye, and some he won't.

There's a new bakery,

but for now, they keep talking.

Neither of them quite ready to go to sleep.

Just yet.

Remember when you said that there was an International Tomato Day?

Stop judging me.

It was International

Tomato Day.

Now that the furniture's returning to its goodwill home

Now that the last month's rent is scheming with the damaged deposit

Take this moment to decide

if we meant it if we tried

or felt around for far too much

from things that accidentally touched

Heavyweight is hosted and produced by me, Jonathan Goldstein, along with Kalila Holt, Peter Bresnan, and Stevie Lane.

The show is edited by Jorge Just with additional editing by Alex Bloomberg.

Special thanks to Emily Condon, Devin Taylor, Annika Pillsbury, and Judge Judd Judd Judge Juda Juda Juda Ja Jackie Cohen.

Bobby Lord mixed the episode with music by Christine Fellows, John K.

Sampson, Blue Dot Sessions, and Bobby Lord, he himself.

Additional music credits can be found on our website, gimletmedia.com/slash heavyweight.

Our theme song is by The Weaker Thans, courtesy of Epitaph Records, and our ad music is by Haley Shaw.

Follow us on Twitter at heavyweight or email us at heavyweight at gimletmedia.com.

We'll have a new episode next week.

This is Justin Richmond, host of Broken Record.

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